It is understood understands that Hegarty has already been given the job, although neither he nor the SFA will confirm this until he is officially unveiled on Thursday.

Smith added: "If Paul Hegarty decides to take the job, we at the SFA would be very pleased to see him on board."

Thursday will see Burley name his squad for next month's friendly in Japan, where Hegarty will be his right-hand man in the absence of assistant manager Terry Butcher, who has decided to put Inverness ahead of Scotland on this occasion.

Hegarty, who has been out of work since being sacked by Livingston in June, this week admitted he misses the day-to-day involvement of club management.

Smith would not have an issue if the 55-year-old chose to accept another job while employed by the SFA.

"The last two guys had club jobs," he said of Butcher and Pressley.

"There was no problem about them having a club job and if he's happy to combine both then I don't think there's a problem with that."

McAllister, meanwhile, has failed to agree to join Portsmouth as assistant manager.

The former Scotland midfielder held talks over the position - vacant since Brian Kidd's summer departure for Manchester City - on Tuesday morning.

But no agreement was reached, leaving Pompey still searching for a No2 to manager Paul Hart.